Biography: Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830. She was raised in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was known as a very intelligent student. Dickinson’s father was a very strict religious man. He refused to let his children read “inappropriate” materials. This caused her to have an issue with the authority of men. When Dickinson was grown her mother fell ill. She and her sister went to take care of her. That same year her father died. Emily then stopped going out into public. She still kept up her social life writing letters to friends. While she was in the house she wrote 1,700 poems. When she died in 1886 she asked her sister to burn all the letters and poems she had written. Lavina, her sister, ignored all of Emily’s wishes and published the poems. She is now known worldwide for her strange, yet amazing, poems.
If I Can Stop One Heart: "If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain."
PERSONAL REACTION:
I thought this poem was very good. It was inspiring. It made you feel that if you helped others you would be helping yourself.
POETIC DEVICES:
Repetition.
There is no historical context.
RHYME SCHEME:
This is a external rhyme scheme:
ABABCBB
We Outgrow Love: "We outgrow love like other things
And put it in the drawer,
Till it an antique fashion shows
Like costumes grandsires wore."
PERSONAL REACTION:
I thought this poem was really good. It has a deeper meaning than you’d expect it to. It tells that love is something that we like, and then when we “outgrow” it, we forget about it…. Then it becomes an antique.
POETIC DEVICES:
She uses similes in this poem.
There is no historical context.
RHYME SCHEME:
This is a external rhyme scheme:
ABCB
A Bird Came Down: "A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.
And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.
He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,--
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head
Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home
Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, splashless, as they swim." PERSONAL REACTION:
I thought this poem was really uplifting. It had a happy vibe to it.
POETIC DEVICES:
She uses similes and imagery in this poem.
There is no historical context.
RHYME SCHEME:
This is a external rhyme scheme: ABCB
A Drop Fell: "A drop fell on the apple tree
Another on the roof;
A half a dozen kissed the eaves,
And made the gables laugh.
A few went out to help the brook,
That went to help the sea.
Myself conjectured, Were they pearls,
What necklaces could be!
The dust replaced in hoisted roa
The birds jocoser sung;
The sunshine threw his hat away,
The orchards spangles hung.
The breezes brought dejected
And bathed them in the glee;
The East put out a single flag,
And signed the fete away."
PERSONAL REACTION: I thought this poem was exceptionally good. It's a look on the good things of a rainy day. How the birds sang, how they looked like pearls, how they helped the sea. It has a happy uplifting vibe.
POETIC DEVICES: Dickinson uses imagery in this poem.
There is no historical context.
RHYME SCHEME: This is a internal rhyme scheme:
ABCB
Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830. She was raised in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was known as a very intelligent student. Dickinson’s father was a very strict religious man. He refused to let his children read “inappropriate” materials. This caused her to have an issue with the authority of men. When Dickinson was grown her mother fell ill. She and her sister went to take care of her. That same year her father died. Emily then stopped going out into public. She still kept up her social life writing letters to friends. While she was in the house she wrote 1,700 poems. When she died in 1886 she asked her sister to burn all the letters and poems she had written. Lavina, her sister, ignored all of Emily’s wishes and published the poems. She is now known worldwide for her strange, yet amazing, poems.
"If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain."
PERSONAL REACTION:
I thought this poem was very good.
It was inspiring. It made you feel that if you helped others you would be helping yourself.
POETIC DEVICES:
Repetition.
There is no historical context.
RHYME SCHEME:
This is a external rhyme scheme:
ABABCBB
"We outgrow love like other things
And put it in the drawer,
Till it an antique fashion shows
Like costumes grandsires wore."
PERSONAL REACTION:
I thought this poem was really good. It has a deeper meaning than you’d expect it to. It tells that love is something that we like, and then when we “outgrow” it, we forget about it…. Then it becomes an antique.
POETIC DEVICES:
She uses similes in this poem.
There is no historical context.
RHYME SCHEME:
This is a external rhyme scheme:
ABCB
"A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.
And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.
He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,--
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head
Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home
Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, splashless, as they swim."
PERSONAL REACTION:
I thought this poem was really uplifting. It had a happy vibe to it.
POETIC DEVICES:
She uses similes and imagery in this poem.
There is no historical context.
RHYME SCHEME:
This is a external rhyme scheme:
ABCB
A Drop Fell:
"A drop fell on the apple tree
Another on the roof;
A half a dozen kissed the eaves,
And made the gables laugh.
A few went out to help the brook,
That went to help the sea.
Myself conjectured, Were they pearls,
What necklaces could be!
The dust replaced in hoisted roa
The birds jocoser sung;
The sunshine threw his hat away,
The orchards spangles hung.
The breezes brought dejected
And bathed them in the glee;
The East put out a single flag,
And signed the fete away."
PERSONAL REACTION:
I thought this poem was exceptionally good. It's a look on the good things of a rainy day. How the birds sang, how they looked like pearls, how they helped the sea. It has a happy uplifting vibe.
POETIC DEVICES:
Dickinson uses imagery in this poem.
There is no historical context.
RHYME SCHEME:
This is a internal rhyme scheme:
ABCB
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomenStudies/ReadingRoom/Poetry/Dickinson
http://www.biographyonline.net/poets/emily dickinson.html
Milton Meltzer "Emily Dickinson A Biography"
Minneapolis, Minnesota: Twenty-first Century Books,
2006